This Is Where It Ends

Chapter 8’s timeline is 10:15-10:18 a.m. Fareed takes the bolt cutters to open doors throughout the school, while Tomas tries to open one of four chained auditorium doors (of five total doors) with paperclips and screwdrivers. In this chapter, the other narrators provide their different perspectives of the time leading up to Tyler dropping out of Opportunity High School. The chapter closes with Autumn moving closer to the stage, as Tyler claims the town corrupted his family, his sister, and him. “Wouldn’t you agree, Autumn?” (104) Tyler yells. For the first time, a local news source tweets with others at the end of chapter, showing different ways in which news and information concerning tragic events gets communicated.

Tyler declares that he’s hungry and singles out Kevin Rolland, one of the only “out-and-proud” students. Sylv recalls Kevin reciting Harvey Milk’s “Hope for a better tomorrow speech” during history class, and standing up to Tyler’s bullying. Tyler shoots Kevin when Kevin does not produce a drink for Tyler. Meanwhile, Claire recalls the night Tyler “cornered Tomas’s sister during the junior prom and tried to kiss her” (98), which was the same night Claire broke up with Tyler. Autumn remembers the spite Tyler showed, on the most recent Christmas Eve, when Tyler discovered her Juilliard audition invitation: “You should get out of here. Show Opportunity it is too small for your talent. We’ll show them no one messes with the Brownes” (103).

Chapter 9 covers 10:18 a.m.-10:20 a.m. Here, while thinking about Fareed, who is the only Muslim student at Opportunity, Tomas breaks his paperclip in the lock. Tomas wants to save Sylv, and recalls Sylv's touching personality. Once, when Sylv went hunting with Tomas and their grandfather, she begged her grandfather to teach him to pick locks, though Sylv and Tomas’s grandfather refused because she was a girl.

In the auditorium, Tyler tells Autumn: “Either you come down here or I continue tormenting your friends” (113), levying pressure on Autumn to make a decision. Autumn recalls spending tender moments with Tyler the previous year, on the anniversary of their mother’s death. Meanwhile, when Tyler drags Nyah, Asha’s little sister by the hair, Asha tries to stand up and save Nyah, inspiring Sylv to tackle Asha to the ground. Meanwhile, outside, Claire trips and falls, and she and Chris are picked up by a police car, as other squad cars speed towards Opportunity High School.